Browsing Posts tagged Kittens

Many people would like to help homeless cats but don’t have the resources to adopt a cat for life. In addition to volunteering at a local animal shelter, a rewarding way to help is to foster a cat. The foster home helps a cat become socialized and more able to be adopted, and it frees up space at the shelter for other cats in need. Part of many shelters’ foster programs are people who foster newborn kittens and their mothers (as well as orphan kittens, also known as bottle-fed babies). The experience of supporting the mother cat with a safe environment in which to give birth to and nurse her kittens, as well as socializing the kittens so that they are ready to go to loving families when they are weaned and spayed or neutered, is a demanding but rewarding one.

Today we have a conversation with a very special foster parent.

John Bartlett--used with permission

John Bartlett (also known as “Foster Dad John”) is a computer professional who lives near Arlington, Washington. He’s been fostering kittens in conjunction with the Purrfect Pals cat shelter and sanctuary since 2008. To date he has fostered a total of 38 sets of cats and or kittens, all of whom are now in loving homes. About a year ago he decided to install a “kitten cam” so people on the Web could see the progress of the kittens and their moms from shortly after birth until adoption. His Kitten Cam followers have multiplied, and they now number more than 36,000. Each litter of kittens (and sometimes the mothers as well) is named according to a theme, such as famous scientists, Russian cosmonauts, or cartoon characters.

His dedication and interaction with his followers has inspired many others to foster, including at least eight people who have set up kitten cams of their own.

We asked John if he would tell us about how he started fostering cats and their kittens and about some of the challenges he’s faced.

Advocacy for Animals: As your viewers know, you have adult cats of your own. Can you tell us a bit about them?

John Bartlett: I adopted the first two from shelters; the rest came from friends whose cat had kittens and they couldn’t find homes for, or kittens found out on the street. One came from a neighbor who left a note on my door asking if I lost a gray kitten—I hadn’t, but he’s still here.

AFA: Given that you have a good-sized cat family, what motivated you to start taking care of kittens and their moms?

JB: I fostered for a friend back in 2004 whose cat had kittens, and since she lived in an apartment, she couldn’t keep them there. That got fostering in my blood and it was always a tickle in the back of my mind until I decided to foster for shelters. continue reading…

— Our thanks to Michael Markarian, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, for permission to republish this post, which originally appeared on his blog Animals & Politics on April 4, 2013.

Some of the leading opponents of animal welfare in the U.S. House of Representatives may run for the U.S. Senate in 2014, where if elected they would ostensibly have more power to block common-sense animal protection policies.

The African lion Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., hunted and ate, on display in his congressional office---Betsy Woodruff, National Review.

Broun has one of the most extreme anti-animal voting records in the Congress; time and again he opposes the most modest efforts to prevent cruelty and abuse, and he goes out of his way to attack animal protection. Although he is a medical doctor, he voted twice, in 2008 and 2009, to allow the trade in monkeys, chimpanzees, and other primates as exotic pets, which can injure children and adults and spread deadly diseases such as tuberculosis and herpes-B virus. He voted to allow the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses and burros. Shockingly, he was one of only three lawmakers to vote against legislation in 2010 to ban the trafficking in obscene animal “crush” videos, in which scantily clad women in high heels crush puppies, kittens, and other small animals to death for the sexual titillation of viewers. continue reading…

Cities, States, and Landowners Get Tough

Have you heard the horror stories? The ones about small animals for sale on the street corner, usually a puppy, kitten or rabbit. A child becomes enthralled. “Oh, Mommy, can we take her home? Please, please, please!!”

Photo courtesy Animal Blawg.

The child pleads, the price is right (usually much lower than market value for a comparable purebred), and the animal seems cute enough. Later reality sets in—the animal is much too young to be away from her mother or she is so malnourished she can’t handle the food she is now being fed. She has internal parasites, worms, or a respiratory infection. Maybe it is ear mites or an intestinal virus. Or worse—maybe the animal passes away just after the child, who so desperately pleaded for her, has become attached.

I personally know someone who purchased just such an animal on a downtown Los Angeles street corner. My friend was there doing some shopping when she was approached. She bought a miniature rabbit, thinking she was so cute and that her daughter would love to have a rabbit for her first pet. The next day after bringing her home, the rabbit became violently ill. She developed severe diarrhea and couldn’t stand on her own. The vet recommended having her euthanized because she was so ill, telling my friend that unfortunately he has seen a lot of animals in the same condition after such purchases. continue reading…

"Service Animal" Scammers (New Yorker): An increasing number of your neighbors have been keeping company with their pets in human-only establishments simply by claiming that the creatures are their licensed companion animals and are necessary to their mental well-being.

Why London’s pig café pop-up is a terrible idea for pigs: Teacup pigs are adorable. Unfortunately, they’re also a complete fabrication. But that isn’t stopping a local London specialty breeder and Yelp from putting on an adoption event to educate the public on “proper” micro pig care.